Loomio
Sun 22 Nov 2015 11:16AM

Improve the publisher to help users with less markdown knowledge

E Elm Public Seen by 58
  • Markdown syntax although simple is not easy for everybody, at least at the beginning.

  • This new publisher would help to enter the markdown codes for people who do not know it or do not want to learn it.

Mockups of how it could be done :
First proposition :

Another proposition :

Question is :
The first mockup is already coded and working but not everybody like the look and ergonomy
The second one is not yet implemented (and could be far more difficult to code) but suits better some person (but not others).

Should the first version be merged now and made better afterwhile or should the community chose to wait before everybody agree about the new publisher ?

A discussion has already started here : https://diaspora-fr.org/posts/1639319

and at first here :
https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/issues/5801
https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/6551#issuecomment-157874366

E

Elm Sun 22 Nov 2015 2:09PM

from what I see in the first proposition : would it be possible to
- remove the preview button (because there is already the "preview" next to the "share"
- add a button at the top to hide all the markdown buttons bar (a toggle button)

RH

Roland Haeder Sun 22 Nov 2015 3:44PM

Hmm, hard to make decision between both, but sure the old way may be a light stopper for some people to nicely formated text.

Currently I would vote for 2nd one as for me clicking on "preview" button feels not so right.

BC

Balasankar C Sun 22 Nov 2015 4:59PM

If tabs could be implemented without much trouble, it would be better. But the format buttons have to stay on top.

If tabs are difficult to implement/maintain, merge Augier's PR for now and let's discuss on design later. Premature optimization must not hinder development.

DU

Sun 22 Nov 2015 6:46PM

Tabs can be implemented I just did it, that's not question. What bothers me is how to implement them which require to hot-modify the html after the plugin has been instanciated to inject HTML. That's why I wanted this to be done on upstream's side and not ours. This is ugly code and I don't like it.

Edit: BTW, here is how it looks:

E

Elm Sun 22 Nov 2015 8:30PM

I like it. Just wondering : what is the difference between the two preview : the one in the tab and the current one ?

DU

Sun 22 Nov 2015 8:38PM

That's not two preview. One tab is for writing and doesn't show you formatting, only markdown syntax. The other is for previewing the formatting and doesn't let you edit.

E

Elm Mon 23 Nov 2015 7:19AM

Thanks for the precision. but there is also the current preview button next to the share button which shows the message as it will be posted : with formatting, images… If I understand it well the tabbed preview is just for text formatting, not showing images… ? Since the implementation of the tabbed preview does not satisfy you and should be done upstream, would it be a better choice not to use it and just use the current preview for formatting preview ?

DU

Mon 23 Nov 2015 9:12AM

Thanks for the precision. but there is also the current preview button next to the share button which shows the message as it will be posted : with formatting, images… If I understand it well the tabbed preview is just for text formatting, not showing images… ?

Currently, it shows embedded images in text. It's still a very raw work. But I'll add location, poll and images in the end, yes.

would it be a better choice not to use it and just use the current preview for formatting preview ?

The current preview is awful code. What it does is just collecting text and roughly add it to the stream. Besides being ugly, it's also unusable on comments and mobile.

E

Elm Mon 23 Nov 2015 9:36AM

ah ok. The current preview button does not refresh easily sometimes maybe because of the actual code. So if I get it well, it is the current preview (and button) that will be removed, to be replaced by the new one in the new publisher.

DU

Mon 23 Nov 2015 10:39AM

So if I get it well, it is the current preview (and button) that will be removed, to be replaced by the new one in the new publisher.

Exactly.